Immigrants: what foods from home do you miss most?

Violetngn

I'm originally from the Philippines. What I miss the most are the tropical fruits, The mangoes, papayas, guavas and other fruits that aren't available in the US (like jack fruit, lanzones, rambutan- similar to lychees). As for Filipino cuisine, I really love chicken adobo, but I have seen some really bizarre ones that I would never want to eat, lol

You can find them all here in Houston, TX but a bit expensive thou

jetlag

I miss loads of foods, mostly junk, too lol

I miss corn dogs, good tex mex, really good hamburgers (they call them beefburgers in the UK, ffs, they're called hamburgers because they're from HAMBURG, like frankfurter is a hotdog. Sorry, mini rant over), clausen dill pickles, ranch dressing, nacho cheese, chinese food in those white cartons, good affordable sushi on every street corner, pizza by the slice, triscuits, pork rinds, omg hot dogs from a street vendor, cornuts! Omg american sausage meat. You can only get it at McDonalds here

Looking at that list, it's a good thing I don't live in the US anymore. :laugh:

jetlag

I'm from Mexico and right now I'm living in Switzerland...

What I miss?

Good, homemade salsas! Green, red, pico de gallo, taquera.. Anything that is actually spicy! I also miss terribly the Mexican cheeses (specially the queso fresco and panela, and Oaxaca too!) so fresh and so much healthier than the Swiss version (though here they make delicious cheeses too!). I miss fried, mexican food.. Oh so the greasiness... But it was amazing..

Finally, I miss the amount of fruit and type of vegetables that I could easily get over there... And the sea food! Cheap and good!

Good that my sister is coming in two days and she'll bring me a package of food goodies from there!

So jealous. You can get good mexican food in the UK, but it's rare.

kimmymayhall

I spent a lot of my childhood in Malaysia. I miss roti canai, rambutans, and good Chinese food :sad:

I do miss rambutans too, too expensive and not fresh rambutans here in Houston, TX. You can come here for good Chinese food.

I live in Dallas but my family is in Houston and I have been to a couple good Malaysian restaurants there, even had some decent roti. I have heard there is good Chinese food in some of the Dallas suburbs but have yet to venture out. And I have actually seen rambutans occasionally but they always look so pitiful.

andiebaco

I'm from Mexico and right now I'm living in Switzerland...

What I miss?

Good, homemade salsas! Green, red, pico de gallo, taquera.. Anything that is actually spicy! I also miss terribly the Mexican cheeses (specially the queso fresco and panela, and Oaxaca too!) so fresh and so much healthier than the Swiss version (though here they make delicious cheeses too!). I miss fried, mexican food.. Oh so the greasiness... But it was amazing..

Finally, I miss the amount of fruit and type of vegetables that I could easily get over there... And the sea food! Cheap and good!

Good that my sister is coming in two days and she'll bring me a package of food goodies from there!

So jealous. You can get good mexican food in the UK, but it's rare.

I lived in UK (Edinburgh) for one year... And no.. I still needed my packages of Mexican food to deal with my cravings (one over December and another one during summer). I still remember my excitment over the instant fideos soup...

reneeopruitt

I grew up in south Mississippi and moved to central Mississippi. You wouldn't think that wouldn't make any difference, but the Lousianna influence and seafood from the coast is missing "up" here. I miss the king cake and cajun seafood dishes.

emlott88

I'm a New Zealander, an immigrant to the USA, but living in Germany right now. I also lived in Australia for 18 months.

I can get pretty much all US stuff on the military base, but I already miss Cheesecake Factory (but seriously- I'm so glad I can't get it here!).

From NZ I miss a lot of things, but I can get some of them through the UK if I want to spend crazy amounts on postage:

- Jersey caramel lollies (umm... delicious)
- Memphis meltdown ice creams (umm... can't describe this deliciousness)
- Legit Indian curries
- My favourite Chinese restaurant that does >the< best sweet n sour chicken
- Toffee pop biscuits (cookies)
- Cookie time cookies (these are massive)

From Australia, I miss the variety of passionfruit flavoured things. Specifically the natural yoghurt which had passionfruit pulp in the bottom of the pot that was set that way, and once opened you have to stir the huge tub to get all the passionfruit yummies (pips included) distributed evenly.

taunto

I was in US for 10 years, I missed many things. Some of them I could cook myself or find in restaurants but they weren't the same and some I simply cannot find in US.

Ful (pronounced fool) fava beans boiled till they break, with veggies, cheese, falafel, olive oil, spices. It is extremely yummy. Cannot find anything close to even the real thing in US.

Hummus: What is it about Americans and getting rid of the chick pea flavor in hummus. The US hummus tastes like cream to me. You're supposed to taste the chick peas in it. With olive oil

Mutabbaq: veggies with meat and eggs on cheese wrapped in very thing dough and then lightly fried! yes please. Cannot find anything even close to it in US

Biryani: Cannot find good biryani in US

Many other things really but these were the biggies.

Where are you from? I agree with you for the most part..most middle eastern food here is very bland. Its even harder finding an arabic bakery..if you want something like kunafa, basbousa, or mahalabiya you gotta make it yourself. Cant find a good filipino resturant either. The only 2 places that do serve filipino food cant even make chicken adobo or kare kare correctly.

They had some decent bakeries in Dearborn. Had good ma'amol baklawa and masri etc at shatila (if you're ever there). There was a small shop across from shatila that used to sell amazing arabic ice cream. And then theres a shop called "Iraqi kababs" (AKA, arab kababs) that made HEAVENLY kebabs. Like surprisingly good. check em out if you're ever there.

neandermagnon

Indian, Bengali and Pakistani food (yes I'm British but we've adopted their cuisine lol.... the British national dish is balti lol)

My sis in law is Bengali and a great cook, but unfortunately I don't live in the same continent as her and my brother.

And I miss the classic British-Indian restaurant food, like your balti, vindaloo type curries... I make my own versions at home but for special treats the occasional restaurant versions of them would be really nice.

BrianSharpe

My wife is from El Salvador.....living in Ottawa we have to drive to Montreal to get a decent pupusa.

I'm Canadian but spent quite a few years living in Germany (near the Dutch border) when I was a kid. I miss the kind of mayonnaise that we put on french fires there (Helmanns just doesn't have the same flavour or texture).